UN Fails to Respond to Complaint Calling for Uniform Definition of Sharia in Light of Human Rights Violations

"Laila," An Afghan mother of six children who started to beg on the streets after losing her job when her employer fled Afghanistan during its return to Taliban rule, speaking during an interview in Kabul, on Nov. 16, 2021. Her name was changed to protect her identity. (Wakil Kohsar/AFP via Getty Images)

A complaint submitted to the United Nations by a global group of 81 concerned citizens seeks a response regarding certain aspects of Sharia law and their connection to human rights violations against women. Submitted on March 8, International Women’s Day, the complaint has yet to receive an acknowledgment or response.

The document asks for a response from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which claims to represent the Muslim world at the U.N., providing a universal codification of Sharia law. The body of religious law, which forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on the Muslim scriptures, especially the Koran, is subject to varying interpretations across the Islamic world. The complaint cites the lack of universal codification as one reason why Sharia is linked to human rights violations against women.

The OIC is the second largest inter-governmental organization in the world, after the U.N. Calling itself “the collective voice of the Muslim world,” it has permanent delegations to the U.N. and the European Union, and numbers 48 Muslim-majority countries among its members.

“The [U.N.] Human Rights Council should request a single consolidated response from the OIC, including one standardized, worldwide codification of the Sharia and an explanation as to why Sharia should not be considered a fundamental cause of violation of women’s human rights,” reads the complaint.

Titled “Thematic Complaint to the Human Rights Council, United Nations On the Worldwide and Consistent Patterns of Gross, Reliably Attested, and Continuing Violations of Women’s Human Rights Caused by Sharia,” the complaint is signed by advocates, activists, and experts from Canada, the United States, Germany, India, the UK, Denmark, Israel, Australia, South Africa, Iran, Uganda, Russia, Austria, the Philippines, Netherlands, and Belgium.

The complaint states that it is not “Islamophobic, hate speech, or racism.” It was distributed to U.N. agencies including U.N. Women, the U.N. Human Rights Council, the U.N. Office of Counterterrorism, and the U.N. Department of Global Communications.

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Recipients also included the secretary-general and the under-secretary-general/legal counsel of the U.N. The document was sent to other global human rights bodies as well, including the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, and the National Human Rights Commission of India.

Dr. Phyllis Chesler, an American writer, psychotherapist, and author of 18 books including, “An American Bride in Kabul: A Memoir” signed the complaint. She told The Epoch Times in an email that the document is an “anti-Sharia” complaint and her signature is a symbolic statement.

“This document will probably never be read or responded to by the U.N., especially by those whose mandate concerns women. It may be the first of many steps which cry out for enforceable legislation—or in U.N. speak, for sustainable legislation,” she said.

The Epoch Times reached out to four of the 11 agencies and individuals to whom the complaint was sent, including the U.N.’s High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Secretary General’s Office, with an inquiry about their receipt of the complaint and response on the matter, but did not receive a reply.

Rahul Sur, a former U.N. official, signed the complaint. Mr. Sur is a former officer of the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services. He also served as U.N. chief of peacekeeping evaluation and as chief of conduct and discipline in the office of the special-representative of the secretary-general.

While he lamented the lack of response from the U.N., he reminded The Epoch Times that it took U.N. Women 57 days to condemn the Oct. 7 violence by Hamas.

“We unequivocally condemn the brutal attacks by Hamas on Israel on 7 October. We are alarmed by the numerous accounts of gender-based atrocities and sexual violence during those attacks. This is why we have called for all accounts of gender-based violence to be duly investigated and prosecuted, with the rights of the victim at the core,” U.N. Women—the U.N. entity dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women—said in a statement on Dec. 1.

Mr. Sur also noted that the Commission on the Status of Women has already adopted resolutions on many aspects mentioned in the complaint and there is plenty of evidence directly from U.N. reports about the type of violations mentioned in the document.

“Given that the United Nations has a robust and internationally accepted normative framework for upholding women’s rights, especially the Convention for the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and the strength and objective evidence in the complaint, including U.N. documents, it is incumbent upon the United Nations to act decisively on the issues raised,“ said Mr. Sur, adding that a failure to do so will reinforce perceptions of the U.N.’s ”ineffectiveness.”

Another signatory was Mathew Giagnorio, a Canadian writer, journalist, and host of the “Modes of Inquiry” podcast. Mr. Giagnorio told The Epoch Times in an email that he believes the complaint will get people talking, thinking critically, and using the means of democracy to create positive changes globally.

“Unlike with previous complaints that address particular incidences, this complaint is the first to present a thorough and heavily detailed case of the negative impacts of Sharia on women and girls, Muslims and non-Muslims around the world. The U.N. itself considers this an important issue,” Mr. Giagnorio said.

Among its many recommendations, the complaint requests that the U.N. Human Rights Council appoint two non-Muslim rapporteurs: a special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief and a special rapporteur on violence against women, to report on the elements of Sharia that discriminate against and have negatively impacted the lives of Muslim and non-Muslim women.

One aspect of the special rapporteurs’ work would be to “assist U.N. Women to determine the extent to which the elements of Sharia are the root cause of inequality and violence by extremist Muslims against women.”

OIC’s Role

The Epoch Times reached out to ten signatories and heard back from six of them. According to the complainants, the OIC has an important role to play in bringing out a universal codification of Sharia. However, they say, that is easier said than done.

Signatory Aliya A. is the co-founder of CLARITy Coalition, a global coalition founded by Muslims, ex-Muslims, academics, scholars, authors, and activists, which works for peace and democracy and “rejects the acceptance of and justifications for ”the institutionalization of Sharia.  The activist told The Epoch Times in an email that it has been difficult to achieve a universal definition of Sharia because of the lack of unity and cohesion among OIC members.

“There are conflicts amongst Muslim sects, Sunni and Shia being the top two as well as the interstate differences among the member states. The unity is only there when it comes to the ummah,” [the community of Muslim faithful] she said, adding that signing the complaint was a “no-brainer” for her, because she is a survivor of child marriage and has been fighting to ban the practice of underage marriage in the United States. Marriage under the age of 18 is still legal in many states with parental permission, and a handful of states have no minimum age for marriage.

She expects the complaint to create a “basic yet powerful” impact, she said.

Helayne Kushner, a member of the CLARITy Coalition and an antisemitism activist, told The Epoch Times in an email that awareness and advocacy are important. Change makers, journalists, and lawmakers should showcase the way Sharia has been weaponized to target women and girls across the globe, she said.

“Showcase the rich cultural and religious diversity of the MENA/SWANA [Middle East and North Africa / South West Asia and North Africa] and put to bed any notion that Sharia is simply another sweet inclusion puzzle piece in the global cultural diversity arena. It’s been difficult to define truly because many westerners do not want to offend or touch such a sensitive topic,” said Ms. Kushner.

“Sharia should be looked [on] by US Citizens in the same vein as Jim Crow Laws from the Reconstructionist US South with more territory, finance, and international power than the Confederates could have ever dreamed,” she added.

The contentious and complicated nature of the issue was very visible when the U.N. secretary-general left Hamas off a sexual violence blacklist included in a recent report entitled “Conflict-related sexual violence.”

The report noted that there is evidence that crimes of sexual violence took place during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, but did not specifically attribute them to Hamas, saying “such a determination would require a fully-fledged investigation.”

The Israeli foreign ministry denounced the report, which was published on April 4.

Lily Shohat, a U.S.-based professor of psychology, told The Epoch Times in a text message that violence against women is a crime everywhere in the world.

“Women in many Muslim countries have lower status. In addition, extreme sexual violence against Israeli women was demonstrated last year by Hamas,” she said.

In the absence of contact information for the OIC on its website, the Epoch Times phoned the Saudi permanent mission to the U.N. on March 28, looking for a response to the concerns of the signatories, but did not receive a reply.

The Epoch Times also reached out to the Jeddah, Saudi Arabia-based Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) of the OIC but did not receive a response by press time.